Welcome
Almost weekly I hear from CWMs telling me
that they no longer feel alone after visiting the Christian
Working Mom website. Truly, that is an answer to prayer.
One of the major goals of CWM is to encourage women as
CWMs and to help them grow in their faith. If you want
to see if other CWMs think like you then check out my
book, The
Voices of Christian Working Moms. A Bible study is
also included if you would like to start a Bible study
in your church or work place. Welcome to all our new CWM
sisters from all over the world. May God this week surprise
you with His awesomeness.
Article – Teaching our Children to be Thankful
In the United States we will be celebrating Thanksgiving
this month. Thanksgiving is a time to thank God for all
our many blessings. Yet, as Christians we should have
thankful hearts every day. Unfortunately, our society
often focuses less on being thankful and more on getting
what we want. Materialism is the name of the game. Let
me share a few statistics with you that will let you know
how rich you really are:
1. If you make more than $10,000 dollars a year you are
wealthier than 84% of the world. If you make more than
$50,000 a year you are wealthier than 99% of the world.
2. At least 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a
day.
3. Nearly a billion people cannot read or sign their name.
4. About 1 billion people in the world live in slum conditions
in major cities.
The statistics are sad and convicting. I would dare say
that everyone who reads this newsletter is considered
among the richest in the world. I know it doesn’t
feel that way when you are struggling to meet your bills.
Yet, your children have a roof over their heads when many
children do not. As I type this email newsletter my washer
and dryer are running as well as the dishwasher I just
started another load in. What luxuries I have compared
to most of the world.
I don’t say any of this to put you or our children
on a guilt trip. We have to be intentional in teaching
our children to be thankful. It does not come naturally
due to our sin nature. We have to teach our children to
thank God for the smallest things in our life every day.
We can also teach our children to pray for children in
other parts of the world. I would encourage you to go
to www.operationworld.org.
There you will find a list of countries to pray for and
also information about the countries. Even with small
children you could have a prayer time each night praying
for a different country. You can also use the information
on the website to learn more about other countries, so
you get a free geography lesson as well.
So, what are some practical ways we can teach our children
to be thankful:
1. Each day we should model for our children out loud
by saying, “Thank you God for this beautiful day.”
Thank you for heat in our home. Thank you that we have
a home and food to eat. You can certainly come up with
more things to be thankful for in your prayer.
2. When my children were little and they were going to
bed we would start our prayer time with: Thank you God
for _________ and they would fill in the blank. We had
some wonderful prayers from time to time. Thank you that
I didn’t have to sit by a girl (my son). Thank you
that I got a bigger locker (my daughter). We can be thankful
for anything and everything.
3. Christmas is coming. As a family can you decide to
spend less and maybe sponsor a child through www.angeltree.org
or a family through the Salvation Army, etc?
4. As a family can you decide we will put off a big purchase
in order to sacrificially give to missions or some way
to reach others for Christ. All throughout the year you
can go to www.samaritanspurse.org and buy items to help
a family support themselves. Did you know for $35.00 you
can buy honeybees for a family to start their own honey
business?
5. Pray as a family for God to show you how to be more
thankful. Can your children give some of their clothes
or toys away to children who have less than them?
My prayer is that for all our families we will have an
attitude of gratitude instead of an attitude of give me.
Keeping up with the Jones mentality often leads to bitterness,
jealousy, and defeat. As Christ followers we are called
to die to self and live for Him. Thankfulness can be caught
by our children by watching us, but it must be taught
as well.
I have posted a question on http://www.christianworkingmoms.blogspot.com
asking how you teach your children to be thankful. Please
share how you teach your children to be thankful so we
can learn from one another.
Final Thoughts
We can all live on less in order to support the call
of Christ. The question is are we willing to make that
sacrifice and show that to our children as well.
Till next time,
Kimberly M. Chastain
Kimberly M. Chastain, MS, LMFT is the Christian
Working Mom Coach and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
She is the author of The Voices of Christian Working Moms,
2 ebooks and an online Bible study. To find out how to
receive coaching tips by email daily, go to http://www.kimberlychastain.com/cwmtips.htm.
To find out more about her books go to www.christianworkingmom.com.
For a free, initial coaching session send an email to
free@kimberlychastain.com.
